"Research has shown that life-affirming laws do have an impact on lowering the number of abortions, and with all the life-affirming laws passed by the States since 2010, we have a reason to celebrate," said AUL's Clarke Forsythe.

Contact: Kristi Hamrick, Americans United for Life, 202-289-1478, press@aul.org

WASHINGTON, Jan. 17, 2017 /Christian Newswire/ -- "The news that there may be fewer abortions taking place in the United States is a great start to the New Year, though we have to take the abortion industry's claims with a grain of salt," said Americans United for Life Acting President Clarke Forsythe. "In the U.S., no national reporting requirements exist for documenting the number of abortions or any of the negative consequences of the procedure. And these estimates of the number of abortions released today don't seem to take into account the reports that about 50 percent of abortions are repeat abortions, meaning that the number of women who have abortions each year is closer to 500,000 or below. Still, we certainly hope that the Guttmacher Institute's estimates are correct, and the number of abortions has decreased as women have chosen life rather than relying on abortion."

Forsythe continued: "Research has shown that life-affirming laws do have an impact on lowering the number of abortions, and with all the life-affirming laws passed since 2010, we have a reason to celebrate the number of lives saved and women protected as legislators worked to defend them from a predatory and rarely accountable abortion industry.  But another factor in the lower number of abortions is the power of beautiful pictures of life inside the womb, through ultrasound. Such pictures are worth more than a thousand words when it comes to helping people understand whose lives are on the line. But all of this does not change the fact that we need a more complete picture of the impact of abortion on women, through verifiable tracking. Abortion isn't about women's health, it's all about population control."

Writing in the Washington Times, along with Dr. John Thorp Jr., Forsythe noted:

"The U.S. abortion data and reporting system, unlike many other countries, relies completely on voluntary reporting. No federal law requires the reporting of abortion numbers, complications or deaths. (Denmark, in contrast, requires mandatory reporting by providers of all induced abortions.)

"In fact, only two national organizations collect abortion data in the United States: the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, a federal government agency, and the private abortion advocacy group, the Alan Guttmacher Institute. Reporting of abortion data to both is completely voluntary and not all states participate.

"Even the most basic statistics about abortion — for example, the annual number in the United States provided by the CDC — is based entirely on estimates, and is therefore vulnerable to human error. How reliable can the annual number of abortions be if California, which used to report approximately one-quarter of all abortions across the nation annually, hasn't reported its data to the CDC for several years?

"It's impossible to say how safe abortion is in the United States when only 26 states require providers to report injuries and complications from abortion."

For more on the health risks of abortion, click here.
 
Americans United for Life (AUL) is the legal architect of the pro-life movement. We are accumulating victories, building momentum, and advancing a culture of life in America. Our vision is a nation in which everyone is welcomed in life and protected in law. The first national pro-life organization in America, AUL has been committed to defending human life since 1971.